"I'm gonna make an appointment with my curiosity." - Frank Sesno
"I'm gonna make an appointment with my curiosity." - Frank Sesno
Emmy award-winning journalist Frank Sesno shares how curiosity and strategic questioning shaped his four-decade career covering presidents and world leaders as CNN's Washington Bureau Chief and White House correspondent. From a fourth-grade question about astronauts to interviewing five U.S. presidents, Frank reveals the power of deliberate curiosity and active listening.
Frank breaks down his approach to preparing for high-stakes interviews, explaining how he blocks conversations into thematic acts while remaining flexible. He introduces the "echo question" technique, which is simply repeating a person's emotionally charged word back to them, that transforms surface answers into more profound truths. Frank emphasizes that the best questioners are the best listeners, focusing on what people say and what they don't say.
In "Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change," Frank discusses why bridge-building questions are critical in our polarized moment. He explores how AI makes human curiosity more valuable and shares his practice of "making an appointment with curiosity" to create time to deliberately formulate meaningful questions.
This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.
Keep questioning!
Episode Notes
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
02:04 Meet Frank Sesno: A Legendary Journalist
03:05 Early Encounters with the Power of Questions
05:01 Curiosity Encouraged: School Days
05:54 The Art of Interviewing: Following Curiosity
08:37 Touchstone Moments in Journalism
09:35 Holding Power to Account
10:42 The Journey to Asking Tough Questions
12:48 Understanding Human Stories
18:25 Complexity of Human Experience
22:38 Listening: The Key to Great Questions
24:37 Echo Questions: A Powerful Technique
27:29 Preparing for Interviews: A Structured Approach
29:40 Structuring Interview Questions
30:27 The Importance of Flexibility in Interviews
31:16 The Power of Walking and Reflecting
32:01 Lessons from the Galapagos
34:13 Traveling with Curiosity
36:38 Fostering Curiosity in Students
40:46 Question Categories That Are Needed Today
47:04 The Role of AI in Questioning
50:39 The Human Touch in Questioning
52:21 Building Rapport with Interviewees
53:26 The Right Now Question
53:54 Finding Hope in Challenging Times
57:26 Connecting with Frank Sesno
58:51 Summary and Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change by Frank Sesno
George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs
Questions Asked
When did you first understand the power of questions?
How do the astronauts go to the bathroom up there?
Were questions and curiosity encouraged for you growing up?
How do you approach these conversations?
Who is my audience?
What's going to happen? What's the result? Who's to blame? What can you do about it?
What's the state? How do you feel about where the country is right now?
Were there any things that happened early on in your career that were kind of touchstone moments for you?
What's the name of this program? Ambush?
How exactly is that gonna be paid for? Where's the money gonna come from?
What did that journey look like for you to get to that point?
What makes you think, what makes you tick, what makes you think the way you think and act the way you act?
Why did she shave her head? Why did she do that?
What does your job... how did you get into it?
What skills do you need?
What experience did you have?
What did your first 90 days look like?
What's your day to day?
What's the person you work with?
What did they do?
How did they get there?
What was their childhood like?
What were their parents like?
Did they have role models?
Do they acknowledge they made a mistake?
What was the mistake?
Where is that going to be?
What are you gonna do there?
What do you think the pay is gonna be?
How does that provide for those children?
What do you do if someone has kids who's taking care of those kids?
What element of listening do you think is most needed in today's world?
How you doing?
Is everybody okay?
How many podcasts have you done?
What was the toughest moment for you when you were in school before you got to college?
How was school?
How'd you get into the business?
What was your chief achievement?
How do the things you've learned connect us to things we care about?
Where's the field going?
What's next?
Tell me about you
Have you done this all your life?
What would make this meeting the most effective use of your time?
What are you struggling with right now?
What's going on with you right now?
Has there been a persistent present problem?
How are you currently solving that?
What happens if you don't solve it?
What's your dream solution?
What does success look like for you?
If I come back in a year and I chat with you, what does your life look like at that point?
What are the five questions that I want, or the five follow ups that I want?
How the hell did this get here?
What has the Galapagos taught you about questions?
How is it that these creatures have no fear of human beings? And what can we, with humility, learn from that?
How do you keep it nice like this?
What was that like? How did they do that?
What are some mechanisms for fostering curiosity?
How long did it take them to cut one piece of marble?
How did they carry two or 20 tons?
What are mechanisms for fostering curiosity?
What are the five questions you're gonna ask him?
When did it start? How many people are in there? How many firefighters are fighting it? Is everybody safe?
How do they put 'em at ease? How do they get them to talk?
What is my chief opportunity or peril six, 12, 24 months from now?
It's five years from now. Your podcast is the number one podcast in America. What are you doing?
Are they just angry? Are they mentally unstable or are they capable of pulling the trigger or are they planning to pull the trigger?
What are you doing when you know you're supposed to be in at 11?
What's going on?
What encourages you the most about the students that are coming in, in relation to questions?
How do you see AI shaping the student's ability to question?
What are the best questions for Ken Woodward?
What are three questions for Senator Warner that recognize his role as a pioneer in technology?
What is your right now question?
How are we gonna get through this?
How and when?
How do we have a good time?
How can people be happy and fulfilled?
In your next important conversation, what would you discover if your preparation set you up to listen deeply and hear what was unsaid?
How might your difficult conversations shift if you separated accountability from aggression in your questioning approach?
How might you incorporate this echo-back practice into your conversations to create space for deeper understanding?
What upcoming experience deserves a scheduled appointment with your curiosity, and what five questions would you prepare?
What bridge-building question could you ask someone with opposing views that creates space for them to feel heard without requiring you to agree?